The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
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Side view of the a carbon based ablator, which contained 8 vol% of phenolic resin during experiments at PWK1. A high-resolution DSLR camera was combined with two optical filters placed in series to create two-dimensional maps of the plasma emission around the samples. The filters limited the observed wavelength range to those covering CH, C2 and CN bands, and revealed quantitative trend of the influence of phenolic resin on the production of carbon-based ablative species within the flow field.
More resin, i.e., denser material, increases the gas-surface reactions and leads to higher emissions of molecules from reactions with carbonaceous material from the surface.
Through a combined German, British and ESA GSTP funded De-Risk activity, the High Enthalpy Flow Diagnostics Group (HEFDiG) at the University of Stuttgart Institute of Space Systems (IRS), and the University of Oxford hypersonic group adapted their respective ground test facilities.
PWK1 is currently the only plasma facility with the required hydrogen capabilities in the world to study the interaction of pyrolysis and ablation on a spacecraft’s thermal protection system.